Stonehenge Apocalypse 9

  “Stacey, is that really you?” Mr. McGowan asked from the other line.
  “Yeah, Dad, it’s me.”
  “Hold on a moment. Terry, Stacey’s on the phone!”
  “Are you sure?” Stacey heard her mother ask, making her smile a little.
  “Yes. I’m putting the phone on speaker now. Go ahead, Stacey.”
  “Hey Mom.” Stacey said.
  “Stacey, where are you?” Terry asked, “We’ve been so worried about you.”
  “I moved to England. I went to two different colleges there.”
  “We read your essays.” Mr. McGowan admitted, “They were interesting.”
  “Yeah, well, that ritual that I mentioned actually happened. I’ve confirmed it.”
  “How?”
  “Have you two heard about what’s going on at Stonehenge and all over the world?”
  “It’s all over the news.” Terry answered.
  “Yeah, well, Stonehenge had a curse placed on the monument shortly after its completion. It’s now about to destroy the world in less than ten hours.”
  “What’re you going to do?”
  “I’m with Dr. Jacob Glaser and Dr. Kaycee Leeds right now. We’re on our way back to Stonehenge to stop it all.”
  “Where are you now?” Mr. McGowan asked.
  “Maine. We had to get the Antikythera Mechanism from some fanatic who thought that Stonehenge was going to bring in the new dawn.”
  “That’s crazy.”
  “Join the club, Dad.”
  “Wait, did you say Dr. Jacob Glaser?” Terry asked.
  “Yeah. Let me put you on speaker.”
  Stacey put the phone on speaker and said, “You guys are clear.”
  “Dr. Glaser, I’m Terry, Stacey’s mother. What is going on?”
  “It’s like your daughter told you,” Jacob answered, “Stonehenge is terraforming the planet due to a curse placed on the monument by a crazy cult leader.”
  “You’re saying some crazy guy started this whole thing?” Mr. McGowan asked, a little skeptical.
  “Yeah, and the Antikythera Mechanism will absorb all of the electromagnetic powers that Stonehenge has.”
  “That sounds ridiculous.”
  “Stacey, put it off speaker.” Jacob said, “This is your discussion, not mine.”
  Stacey turned the phone off of speaker and said, “Mom, Dad, I just want to say that I’m sorry that I left and didn’t contact you for ten years.”
  “I’m sorry that I was so controlling.” Mr. McGowan replied, “Had I known it would’ve led to that, I would’ve been more easygoing with you.”
  “Dad, it’s called instinct. You’re a military man, so you think like one. It’s understandable.”
  “Why ask for our forgiveness now?” Terry asked.
  Stacey hesitated before answering, “Because I may not get another chance to.”
  “Stacey Marie McGowan, what are you saying?” Mr. McGowan asked.
  “In order to stop Stonehenge, a blood sacrifice is needed. Jacob doing it alone isn’t going to do it.”
  “Stacey, no!” Terry screamed; Stacey could tell she was now crying.
  “I have to. Besides, if the both of us do it, there may be a chance that one of us could come out alive.”
  “Stacey, if you die, I may not live with myself.” Mr. McGowan said, now crying a little.
  “Dad, I’m not a little girl anymore. You know that. I haven’t come this far for nothing, have I?”
  Mr. McGowan sighed to hold in a sob then answered, “No, you haven’t. Can you hand the phone to Dr. Glaser?”
  Stacey then tapped Jacob on the shoulder, getting his attention, “Dad wants to say something to you.”
  Jacob took the phone and said, “Mr. McGowan.”
  “Mr. Glaser, you try and make sure Stacey comes out of this alive.” Mr. McGowan said.
  “I’ll try my hardest, but I can’t guarantee anything.”
  “Stacey’s our only child. I don’t know what we’ll do if she dies.”
  “Don’t worry, Mr. McGowan. I’ll keep Stacey safe until we start the ritual. After that…well, I can’t really say.”
  “Thank you, Dr. Glaser. Oh, and one more thing. Did Stacey ever tell you that so-called robot head is just a rock?”
  Jacob glared at Stacey for a moment before saying, “Yeah, I’ll talk to her about that later.”
  “Good luck.”
  “Thank you, sir.”
  Jacob hung up and turned back to Stacey and said, “Just a rock, huh?”
  “It is!” Stacey said, realizing what her father had told Jacob, “Although, my first impression was that it was a monkey head.”
  “Yeah, sure.”
  Jacob turned back in his seat, Kaycee then saying, “I’m going with you two.”
  “No, you’re not.” Jacob replied, “You have to get to a hospital.”

  John hung up the phone and handed back to the soldier. He thought for a moment or two before saying, “I’m going to go back.”
  This shocked everyone: Marla, David, and General Forshaw, who said, “You do understand the risk you’re taking, doctor. I don’t have a choice but to drop that bomb when the hot zone’s evacuated.”
  “General, from the way I see it, no matter what we do, there won’t be much of a world left. But I do want to try and save what’s left of it.”
  “I’m coming with you.” David said.
  “As am I.” Marla agreed.
  “You’re all nuts.” Forshaw said, then said to the soldier, “Gunner, you’re with me. Take this one, doctor.”
  “Thank you, General.” John said, shaking Forshaw’s hand and getting in the driver’s seat.
  “John…may God be with you.”
  “Yeah.”
  John started the Defender then put it in reverse. He put the car in drive and the trio was on their way back to Stonehenge.

  The SUV arrived at Gilboy Air Base and Jacob almost got out, Stacey noticing his slight hesitation.
  “Jacob, come on.” She said.
  Jacob took off his necklace and looked back at Kaycee, holding his arm out to her, “I want you to keep this.”
  “Your Prevolich Award?” Kaycee asked, “I’m not taking it.”
  “Relax. I’m not proposing. Just take it.”
  Jacob placed it in Kaycee’s hand, who looked at it before asking, “Why give it to me?”
  “The trust that you and Stacey have placed in me have validated my work…and maybe even my life.”
  Stacey let out a slight sob then said, “Kaycee, I’m so glad that I got to meet you. I just wish I could say with certainty that I’ll see you again.”
  She then hugged Kaycee, who returned the hug, Kaycee saying, “I will see you again.”
  “I might be dead, though.”
  Kaycee watched as Stacey got out of the car, trying to force back her own tears. She knew very well that Jacob and Stacey were saying their goodbyes to her and that there was a high possibility that both of them were going to die in a few hours. Kaycee then heard Jacob get out of the car, but wasn’t expecting him to open her door.
  “Jacob, what are you…?”
  Kaycee never got a chance to finish that sentence; Jacob had placed both hands on either side of her face and pressed his lips against hers. She was surprised to say the least, but did return the gesture.
  Stacey was shocked as well. If she had been crying earlier…well she wasn’t now.
  Jacob broke the kiss a few moments later, saying, “I may never get another chance to do that again.”
  Kaycee smiled a little and said, “I’ll hold on to your Award until you get back. Deal?”
  “Deal.”
  Jacob gave Kaycee a second kiss, which only lasted a few seconds, then got out of the car. Kaycee, in turn got out, watching Jacob and Stacey board the supersonic. Something in her told her to yell to Jacob and, eventually, she did.
  “Jacob!”
  Jacob looked down at her from his position on the ladder and yelled, “What?!”
  “If this works, you owe me a date for my role in this!”
  “You got it!”
  Kaycee then watched Jacob enter the plane, the massive aircraft lifting off a few moments later. She held her hair in place and watched as the aircraft disappeared. A smile graced her lips and she looked at the Prevolich Award in her hand.
  “Come back safely, both of you.”

  John drove the Defender back to the entrance of the school, he, Marla, and David getting out and running inside. The clouds were dark and lightning was permeating the area around Stonehenge.
  Once inside, Marla and David went to their stations, John saying, “There has to be something we can do.”
  The countdown was now at eight hours and one minute. All they could do was hope that Jacob and Stacey made it back in time.
 
  Four hours later, soldiers were still evacuating the area around the hot zone. A cell phone went off, getting Forshaw’s attention. He took the call, “Yes?”
  “Dr. Glaser and Dr. McGowan have landed, sir.” A soldier announced.
  Forshaw looked at his watch and said, “They’ve got four hours to get to Stonehenge and stop it before the bomb drops. Get them moving and tell them that Trousdale’s waiting for them.”

  Jacob and Stacey ran to the Defender waiting for them, a soldier saying to Jacob, “Dr. Trousdale is waiting for you both. Good luck.”
  Jacob got in the driver’s seat while Stacey got into the passenger’s side. Not even a minute later, the two were on the road and heading for the primary school.

  At the school, John and Marla watched as news footage showed volcanoes and destruction from nations worldwide.
  “Reports are showing that the events in the past forty-eight hours are like scenes out of the Book of Revelations.” a news anchorwoman said, “The reports remain unconfirmed that they have been cause by some sort of phenomenon in the Salisbury Plains and the stones that rest there. The awe-inspiring destruction and the silence from the governments around the world leave us with little to do but pray and hope that there is some way to stop the inevitable Stonehenge apocalypse.”
  David snickered to himself and then said, “Joseph Leshem’s colleagues used to laugh at him when he had once said the planet had been terraformed into a habitable world by being from long ago. I guess they’re not laughing now, are they.”
  John turned and looked at David, as did Marla, John asking, “What do you know about Joseph Leshem?”
  “That his prophecy has come true.”
  John and Marla looked at one another and then back at David.
  “As we’re speaking, the ancient curse left behind is amassing the planet’s electromagnetic energy. When that countdown hits zero, power that is beyond your imagination will be unleashed on this world. This world’s death will lead to the dawn of the next.”
  “David!” Marla exclaimed.
  David stood up, as did John, who realized what David was saying, “You son of a bitch! You tipped Leshem and those murderers off about the Mechanism!”
  “My brethren are not murderers.”
  “You’re no scientist. I don’t even know what you are, but you don’t belong here. Get out now!”
  “Actually…”
  David pulled out a gun, which made John and Marla lean back in shock.
  “My orders are to stay right here.”

  David drove down the road, very much breaking the speed limit, Stacey next to him, pulling out the paper with the words of the ritual. She then remembered something and rolled down the window, sitting on the edge of it and screaming, “Sanguis meus tibi non iam perbibendusit!”

  Marla heard something on the computer and turned to look, saying, “Sir, Stonehenge! Its frequency is slowing down again!”
  John turned and noticed, as did David. His face scrunched up and he said to himself, “No.”

  “Macula aeternitatis numquam detergenda! Quisam sugent et detergent imaginem veritates!”
  “What the hell are you doing?!” Jacob asked.
  “Repeating the spell will slow down Stonehenge!” Stacey said, “That’s how I figured out this was the ritual! The stones are reacting to the spell!”
  “How much time will it give us?”
  Stacey looked at her watch and said, “Considering that we’re already making good time, I’d say only a few minutes.”

  “Sir, Stonehenge is glowing.” Marla said.
  “It’s the spell.” John determined, “That must’ve been what caused Stonehenge to slow down earlier.”
  “It doesn’t matter.” David said, “They won’t make it.”
  John looked at the countdown and said, “They still have almost three hours left. Don’t you care that we’re near extinction?”
  “This is necessary for the human race to be reborn.”
  “David, you can’t possibly believe it, can you?”
  “Oh, I believe it…now more than ever. The prophecy is coming true.”
  “And your prophet is dead!”
  “That’s why it’s all up to me now. I will kill Jacob Glaser and Stacey McGowan the moment they arrive.”

  As Jacob continued driving, Stacey looked at the ingredients and the paper, a thought coming to her mind.
  “Jacob, what if the ritual doesn’t work?”
  Jacob looked at her and said, “You’re not spouting out that bullshit again, are you?”
  “I’m serious, Jacob. There’s always the possibility that we could do it wrong. Besides, I’ve read over this and just the two of us aren’t going to work.”
  “Now you tell me this?!”
  “Hey, I’m no expert in reading ancient texts! You kinda shot and killed him!”
  “Stacey, we don’t have time for this! We’ll see if Dr. Trousdale and the others will help us out.”
  Stacey nodded and just looked out the window. Jacob noticed this and held her hand for encouragement.
  “It’ll work.” Jacob reassured her, “How many times have I been wrong so far?”
  “You haven’t.”
  “Exactly. Why would I lie to you at the eleventh hour?”
  Stacey smiled and said, “Okay.”
  They then felt rumbling and Stacey said, “We’re close to Stonehenge. We need to head to the school first.”
  “Okay. Try repeating part of that ritual again. It might slow Stonehenge down again.”
  Stacey sat up on the edge of the window and yelled, “O, servator, sempiterne te grati coluimus. Odor atrox quo nos superfundis intolerabilis est.”
  The rumbling started to die down and Jacob commented, “Stonehenge really is affected by the spell.”
  “You don’t say?”
  Jacob slightly smiled and then took a turn, heading west for the primary school. He could only hope that he would make it in time.

  One hundred miles away, the last truck went past the line, a soldier giving Forshaw thumbs up as an indication. Forshaw saw this and picked up the phone.
  “Hot zone has been cleared.” He said, “Go ahead.” Once he hung up, he said to himself, “Forgive me, Glaser.”

  Inside a Royal Air Force plane, the commander over the radio told the pilot, “Eagle 1, the hot zone is clear. Proceed to target.”
  “Roger that.” The pilot replied, “Proceeding to target.”